The use of automated drilling methods is becoming increasingly common in drilling subterranean wellbores. Such methods may be employed, for example, to control the direction of drilling based on various downhole feedback measurements, such as inclination and azimuth measurements made while drilling or logging while drilling measurements.
These automated methods may be enhanced by measurements of various wellbore properties while drilling. For example, certain automated drilling models make use of the dogleg severity of the wellbore. Moreover, certain logging while drilling measurements can be influenced by the standoff distance between the logging sensor and the borehole wall. The standoff distance tends to be related at least in part to the gauge (the cross sectional diameter) of the wellbore.
While methods exist for measuring dogleg severity and wellbore gauge there is room for further improvement and for the use of redundant measurement techniques.